WE ARE FOR ONE UNITED NIGERIA TO THE GLORY OF GOD.
NIGERIAN TIMES is totally in disagreement with all the secessionists daring to divide the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Because, we believe in one united Nigeria for the common good of all bona fide Nigerians and all the people living and working in Nigeria regardless of race, class or creed.
The nightmares of the last civil war in Nigeria are still lingering in our memories. And even though the wounds have healed, but the scars are still visible on our bodies and the memories of the agonies are like thorns in our hearts. We have vowed that never again shall we tread that path of wanton corruption and destruction of humanity in bloodshed.
Therefore, we denounce the current separatist demonstrations of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB). Because, it is another suicide mission and a total waste of time. Scores of lives have been lost in the various violent clashes with the Nigerian Police and MASSOB has not accounted for the loss of these lives. The lives of these people have been wasted in a futile struggle.
We ask MASSOB to account for the life of every person who has been lured into their secesssionist movement. What is the life insurance?
If MASSOB is honest and sincere, then all the hypocritical members of MASSOB should return their Nigerian Passports back to the Federal Republic of Nigeria and see how far they can go. It is hypocrisy to be enjoying the privileges of bona fide citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and using the Nigerian Passport to travel abroad and to live and work in foreign countries while claiming to be "Biafrians"? Anyone who applied for a Nigerian Passport has entered into a contract with the Federal Republic of Nigeria to be his or her nationality and for that same person to claim the nationality of another sovereignty, that person is a crook, rogue, hypocrite, liar, criminal, bastard and a fraud. The person is an enemy of the state of Nigeria and should be arrested and treated as an enemy of the present and future sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Our word is enough for the wise.
NIGERIA: Police arrest 45 people in violent southeast secessionist protests
08 Sep 2005 18:26:33 GMT
Source: IRIN
ENUGU, 8 September (IRIN) - Anti-riot police arrested 45 protestors in the southeast Nigerian town of Onitsha during region-wide demonstrations called by a banned secessionist group, police officials and witnesses said on Thursday.
The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) said it called protests held in several southeastern cities on Wednesday to protest alleged harassment of its members by the security forces and to intensify its demand for secession.
At one protest in Onitsha, Anambra State, a policeman sent to stop the protesters was shot dead by MASSOB activists, according to police.
"Four policemen were shot by the MASSOB men and one died on the spot, with the rest still in hospital," said police spokesman Kolapo Sofoluwe.
The police remain on a high alert and ready to arrest any protestor attempting to take to the streets without police permission, he said.
"Anybody who comes out in the name of MASSOB or any other banned organisation will definitely be arrested," said Sofolouwe.
More than three decades after the bloody Biafra war, fought to claim independence for the oil rich southeast, MASSOB continues to draw large crowds for its rallies, demonstrations, boycotts and stay-at-home protests, often featuring symbolic declarations of independence.
However, MASSOB denies secessionist efforts are violent these days and says members would not have shot on police.
"We're non-violent, we did not attack the police," Tony Franks, a spokesman for the group, told IRIN.
He accused the police of opening fire on unarmed protesters at Onitsha and injuring two people. He said police brutality was the very reason for the protest.
"We called a nationwide protest against police brutality on our members, especially our leader," Franks said.
Leader and founder of MASSOB, Ralph Uwazurike, has spent the last week in hiding after accusing a top police chief of offering to ease off security surveillance of his activities in return for five million Naira, or US $37,878.
Uwazuruike claims that successive governments have oppressed and discriminated against Nigeria's Igbos, the ethnic group that dominates the south east.
His campaigns have struck a chord among thousands of jobless Igbo youths born after the 1967 civil war but who have joined MASSOB's ranks.
Human rights groups say that dozens of pro-Biafran activists have been killed over the last six years for campaigning for such beliefs, with hundreds still in detention after being arrested by the police at marches and rallies organised by MASSOB.
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